MUSASHI AROUND THE WORLD: Alcalá del Júcar

Two weeks ago I bought a book about the most beautiful villages in Spain. I read that near to Albacete there was a very beautiful village with a castle and excellent food. So ,finally I decide travel to visit this place :

Saturday,24 of September 2011

Very early I take my car and begin this travel(It takes me about three hours to go there).
It´s very beautiful and everything appears extremely calm.

I go to my hotel to do the check in before to visit the village :

And now with my camera I begin to walk around this peaceful village :

Is time to eat something tipic of the región :

It was delicious!!
For today I have decided visit the the center of village and its outskirts.
Its leafy tree-lined walkways provide pleasant shade and coolness, enhanced by the abundance of water that flows in its streams.

River Júcar

In the surrounding area the landscape is impressive

I have been walking all the day and I´m a bit tired. It will be better y that I come to my hotel ,but first a beautiful photo about the castle :

Sunday,25 of September 2011

As dawn rises in Alcalá ,a beautiful day fills the air at the village.
I have been a great breakfast and now is the moment to visit tha castle :

Castle of Almohad origin (XII-XII centuries). It was, as other castles and lands in this area, occupied by Iberians, Romans, Arabs and Christians.
When Alfonso VIII of Castile conquered this land around the year of 1.213, the castle was occupied by Christians. Later in time, it belonged to Marquis of Villena
Its style is Islamic. There are three floors and has a pentagonal fortified tower and two circular little towers. Most of the wall that surrounded the castle have been destroyed over time, but some remains are still visible.
Around the castle there is the popular legend of Princess Zulema and intense and tragic love with the Moor who lived Garadar. One version says that the princess was claimed by Garad Christian, who held the Castle to make him renounce his faith and marry her. To escape his fate, committed suicide by throwing himself Zulema vacuum. The other legend tells of forbidden love of Zulema, this time a Muslim, a Christian gentleman. To escape the wrath of his parents settled in the present location of the nearby village called Zulema.